What's Your Favorite gluten-free "mainstream" Meal?

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36 posts in this topic

I'd love some more ideas for gluten-free meals that aren't designed to be gluten-free. Like tonight we had Shepherd's Pie (aka hamburger pie) - casserole layered with seasoned ground beef, tomato sauce, a veggie (I used diced zucchini), mashed potatoes and cheese.

Other meals we like include:

- Hamburger patties with fries and a veggie (usually corn or peas). We just skip the buns.

- Bacon & eggs + fruit

- Taco stew (see the recipe on the Whole Foods site) - similar to chili, and we serve it with tortilla chips.

- Quesadillas - we make them with everything under the sun inside, we just use corn tortillas instead of flour. (My friend who is from Mexico said "Of course you use corn, why would you make them with flour tortillas??" lol)

- Sausages (made fresh at our local grocery store) with sauteed onions and red potatoes plus broccoli. My mom, who shuns all things gluten-free, LOVES this meal and was shocked it was gluten-free.

My kids also love pancakes, and we've had really good luck doctoring up the Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free mix. We add flax meal, fruit, zucchini, nuts, berries, you name it. Plus the toppings - stewed apples & pecans, berry compote, cinnamon sugar. We have turned pancakes into an art form in our house! Seriously - last time DH made them, I decided we have Cracker Barrel beat by a long shot. lol

Pulled pork and rice - The Kirkland pulled pork is gluten-free and you make it with Sweet Baby Ray's sauce. My friends didn't notice the lack of gluten, and complemented me on the idea of serving it with rice. (Southern style, really.)

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yesterday i made a big pot of soup beans (used pintos) and threw ham in it. usually i keep the bone of a ham from another supper for flavor but didn't have one so i got some boar's head ham and shredded it. i made a salad and some bob mill's gluten free corn bread to go with it and OH MAN i wanted to eat the whole pan. it was sooooooooooo good. no one believed it was gluten free bread. taste awesome. i got the cornbread mix from target ... i am gonna be stocking up on it! it wasn't expensive and so quick and easy to make.

another meal we like to eat is steak, brocoli and these smashed potatoes-

5 to 6 med scrubbed red or idaho potatoes

salt (to taste)

3 to 4 slices of cooked bacon chopped into small pieces(i use the already cooked bacon)

2 green onions chopped up (the dark part) save the other for something else

2 to 3 T butter (or more to taste)

1/2 c sour cream

cut and boil potatoes until fork tender(i leave the skin on because i'm too lazy but you could peel it if you don't like potato skin).

drain and dump back in the pot and smash with potato masher (leave as "chunky" as you desire)

add the rest of the ingredients and combine. serve it up and dig in!

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I like to make taco soup, buffalo chicken baked potatoes, steak, rotisserie chickens and stir fry all the time! I also love breakfast for dinner I think its easy to sneak by those gluten eaters...at least, I know it is for my gluten eater because I do all the cooking

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Chicken and rice with peas and carrots, hamburger steaks(hamburger patties)with mashed potatoes and veggie, beef pot roast with veggies, I like to use kitchen basics beef stock for some flavor. Something I call swiss steak, I get those little round skillet steaks and simmer them for an hour in tomatoes and onions, green peppers if you like, and serve with mashed potatoes or rice. Oven baked potato with various toppings. Country style ribs, hot-water cornbread (like a cornmeal pancake)and veggies. Tacos are probably the house favorite. I made them for my sons b-day and everything was eaten. Alton Brown has a taco seasoning recipe that is good.

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Lots of great ideas posted...I need them, too, as I seem to get in a rut (don't we all?)

I love pork and sauerkraut (done in crockpot) with homemade mashed potatoes and applesauce.

Oven baked chicken with baked potatoes and veggie/salad.

Crustless quiche and salad. Quick and easy especially not having to mess with a crust. Quiche can be made from lots of things. I spray the glass pie dish with non-stick cooking spray and coat it with bread crumbs (obviously, they need to be gluten free). Unfortunately I'm trying to avoid dairy right now and I used half-and-half instead of milk. Haven't made it since going gluten free.

Beef pot roast with potatoes and carrots (oh, how I miss Campbell's cream of mushroom soup). Leftovers = beef stew, which could be topped with drop biscuits and called meat and vegetable pie (I pulled that on my husband once as he hated beef stew... ) hee hee

When I bake potatoes, I bake extras...they're really good sliced or diced and fried. Great for a farmer's breakfast with omelets, bacon or sausage or skip the potatoes and make biscuits. Pancakes or waffles with whatever you wish to add to make a meal. Nice Sun. night "supper".

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Here are some of our favorites, with minimal tweaking to make them gluten-free:

Homemade picadillo (ground beef seasoned with onions, garlic, chili, cumin, tomatoes and carrots) with refried beans and rice, served with tortillas. We ate this regularly when I was growing up and the only substitutions I've made were gluten free beef broth in the rice (for a little flavor) and corn tortillas instead of flour ones. Sometimes we just do beans and rice.

Warm lentils and diced sauteed smoked sausage (we like Boarshead if we can find it) tossed with red wine vinaigrette and scallions.

Crock-pot beans cooked with a smoked ham hock from Whole Foods, simmered down and served with cornbread (gluten-free, of course).

And I've tweaked my favorite mac-and-cheese recipe to work with brown rice flour, lactose-free milk and gluten-free macaroni. We can't taste a difference. I'd happily serve it to anyone and I doubt they'd ever suspect it was gluten-free.

pasta (with meat sauce or cream sauce)- using gluten-free pasta. For cream sauce I start with a roux (SP??) of butter and pamela's mix.

mac& cheese (homemade) I usually like to top this with bacon and parmasean cheese- same as pasta and cream sauce.

grilled cheese sandwiches - thanks to Udi's

meatball subs- minus bread crumbs (or you can roll in gluten-free breadcrumbs after forming the meatballs) I use Rachel Ray's recipe for baked meatballs. Use Chebe for the rolls or in a pinch you can toast up some Udi's bread and brush with garlic oil and melt a 1/2 slice of provolone over each slice of bread (keeps sauce from make the bread too soggy).

pizza- made from either Pamela's bread mix or chebe mix. I particularly like using the chebe mix and grilling it.

Mongolian Beef- easy but time consuming and only substitutions is use gluten-free soy sauce and coat meat using cornstarch

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i MISS casseroles.... has anyone seen a gluten free cream of mushroom soup ??? i havent been able to find one yet ??

The Campbell's condensed version is what I miss the most as it was such a staple in my pantry. Progresso makes Creamy Mushroom (part of the Vegetable Classics line) but it's just not the same. You could probably make it work for some things but I'm missing my old Campbell's.

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Great, great suggestions! Kudos to the OP - now we can all snag recipe ideas

It's only been a couple of months here, and being summer, I haven't really looked into soups or stews. We do a LOT of grilled veggies on the bbq, and we do a lot of (plain) grilled chicken or souvlaki. Our local (Greek) butcher does fresh souvlaki and chicken breasts, and they are done with spices, not "seasonings" and I haven't had any problems. They also make their own taziki sauce, and I haven't had any problems with that either. Some rice or oven-browned potatoes on the side...oh man, I could live happily on Greek food.

Because dairy isn't an issue (though lately I've been trying to limit a little) gluten-free bread for grilled cheese is definitely a favourite.

I also do a lot of fruit/veggie salads. I hate lettuce though so my salads usually have peppers, tomatoes, grapes, apples, chick peas, chunk tuna or chicken breast, and pretty much anything else I find in the cupboard or fridge. Thank God for Kraft salad dressings!

If I could find some fresh (not frozen) gluten-free tortillas, I would definitely go overboard with burritos!

By the way, does anyone know where (in Canada) I could get gluten-free pastry? Does that even exist?

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Grilled pork tenderloin is probably my favorite. I make a stovetop sauce with about 2 T. each minced onion or green onion, celery (optional) and mushrooms (also optional, but delicious) sauteed in olive oil, then add about 1/8 cup gluten-free mustard and a large sprig of fresh rosemary (you could substitute 2 tsp of crumbled dry rosemary) and about 1/3 cup of gluten-free vegetable or chicken stock. Let that simmer until it reduces (10-15 minutes or so). Rosemary and mustard are magic together, I don't know why. This sauce is great on grilled chicken, steaks or pork. We also like Sweet Baby Rays on chicken or pork.

Sweet potatoes cook up easily on the grill wrapped in aluminum foil. I love them plain or sprinkled with cinnamon.

Curried shrimp or chicken over rice is another favorite, and pretty quick to throw together, especially if you have leftover rice and/or chicken.

Bush's Black Beans over leftover rice is a regular. Chopped fresh white onion and chopped fresh pepper sprinkled on top makes it tastier.

I've been experimenting with turkey thighs with marginal success. I'm starting to think that cut is only suitable for soup. Does anyone have a good recipe?

I'm not big on salads lately, but have fresh fruit with every meal. Or sliced cucumber.

An excellent topper for chili or soup is to fry strips of gluten-free corn tortillias in hot olive oil until browned on both sides, then drain on paper towels. They're actually good on their own, but very tasty and a nice contrast with soup...better than crackers at a fraction of the cost of gluten-free crackers.

I love watermelon this time of year! It is wonderful combined with red grapes for a simple salad. Watermelon is very good for our autoimmune system, too.

1. In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients; cover and process until vegetable flakes are finely chopped. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 1 year.

Editor's Note: Use as a substitute for half a 10-3/4-ounce can of condensed cream of chicken, mushroom or celery soup. For half of a can of soup, in a microwave-safe dish, whisk together 2/3 cup water and 3 tablespoons soup mix. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 2 to 2-1/2 minutes, whisking occasionally. For mushroom soup, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup sauteed sliced mushrooms. For celery soup, add 1/8 teaspoon celery salt or one sauteed sliced or chopped celery rib.

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I know Wegman's sells a non-dairy powdered milk replacement. I've heard it's really good but haven't tried it. My mother also used to use non-dairy coffee creamer as a powdered milk replacement. HTH

Thanks! No Wegman's close to me (probably 50 miles or more). Good to know about the non-dairy coffee creamer, which I never thought of. I'll see what I can find when I get to the store. Or possibly my local health food store has something available...I need to go there anyway.

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A friend just posted a link to this website. If you can handle dairy, it looks like a way to add some variety to the routine. They advertise weekly menus with a grocery list that they claim will keep the bill down. The recipies look good and my friend is using the one of the regular menu plans for with her family. They do charge a weekly fee, but it was small and might be worth it for a while if I could handle dairy. There was cheese in 4 of the 7 meals.

We call this one 'meat & taters'-- 1/4- 1/2 lb ground beef/ turkey per person(we use about 1 lb for 2 people); baker, red or yukon gold potatoes-- 1-2 per person. you can also add herbs & spices to the meat (I do sometimes)

slice the potatoes into edible- size pieces, cook them in oiled skillet on med heat until starting to brown (about 10 mins), add meat to skillet & cook it. once it's done, put in bowls & eat! We often like to add ketchup on top, or sometimes cheese. you can also add other vegetables along w/ the potatoes, like green beans or maybe broccoli or cauliflour. My dad came up w/ this 'recipe' while camping, and he added a can of green beans. Yum...

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